Gem-gum balloon products
Many gem-gum products may come in the form of strong high pressure air inflated tube and similar shaped balloons Think: balloon-tent (but actuated by nanomachinery within the hulls) – (wiki-TODO: add illustration)
This is concept introduced as "balloon robots" by Josh Hall (better known as the inventor of utility fog).
As mentioned on the "gemstone based metamaterial" page in products of advanced atomically precise technology
actuators for reasonable forces use up only a rather tiny fraction of the product volume since they can run at very high power densities.
It should thus be possible to make various kinds of active structures that are inflatable and integrate actuators such as motor-muscles,
shearing drives and or other stuff.
Note: Gem-gum balloon products are not to confuse with: Aeronautic balloons out of robust metamaterials
Balloon robots – A concept introduced by Josh Storrs Hall
A diamondoid/gemstone nanotechnology based analogy to biological muscles.
But due to the expectable much higher possible power and force density (at same efficiency or perhaps even better efficiency)
just as thin shelled hollow tubular balloons rather than slid muscle material.
Releated pages to this:
- Down: Motor-muscle (mocle) & infinitesimal bearing … the metamaterial basis to build on
- Up: multi limbed sensory equipped shells … some stuff that could could be built atom the bases
Extending on the idea
High pressure balloons come with the challenge of that mobile angle joints usually lead to a volume change and thus a big counter-force.
A problem well known from space suit engineering.
( napkin math: ΔE = W = F·s => F = W/s and ΔE = p·(V2-V1) for easy isotherm case, though often more adiabatic )
A possible workaround for this might be to add complex tendon like internal cross-bracings generated via generative design software.
Diverging from the idea (no longer balloons)
Rather than gas inflated balloons, instead go for
thin wide stripes "belt motor muscles (belt-mocels)"
Stiffening then needs to be provided by other (more conventional) means of a structural frame.
In analogy to bones (and tendons) of skeleton when keeping with the bio-analogy.
Why not cylindrical cables instead of belts? They would …
★ give more concentrated pressure on supports.
★ be worse for cooling
Well, the latter only matters when hitting the limits which will be rare)
When hitting the cooling limits then less thin-sheet-belt-like-designs may force
the difficult design of a more complex metamaterial for both actuation and cooling in the same volume.
Whereas more thin-sheet-belt-like-designs may allow to keep-with/stick-with
macroscopically separate materials for actuation and cooling.
And maybe a metamaterial for connecting between the two.
Related: Separation of concerns
Detail thoughts to "balloon products"
Compartments
Micro sized compartmentisation (similar to the ones that may be found in diamondoid heat pump system
or entropomechanical converter but maybe bigger and softer due to lower pressure)
should allow for safe use of high pressures without explosion hazard.
Internal (possibly tree like spreading) tensioning structures (e.g. cables) can define the outer structure.
Compression heat
To partly avoid thermal losses when compressing air for a fill of an inflatable structure
the air can first be compressed into a small high surface area pre-chamber with target pressure.
An entropomechanical converter system can be used to catch as much as possible from the free energy from the produced temperature difference.
Recycling
It may be to note that when such structures aren't filled to liquid densities
(these are around 1000bar at room temperature, normally some 10 bar should suffice)
in some sense one leaves the machine phase a bit.
Especially when non stiff inflatable structures are deflated new degrees of freedom are introduced.
(Remotely related: atomically precise positioning; the products are still topologically atomically precise tough.)
Very floppy structures must be brought back to microcomponent-level-machine phase
(rolling the stuff up in a tensioned ordered state removing creases and tangles)
before their microcomponents can be recycled.
(See: management of soft cables and sheets)
(TODO: Do more rewriting here for better comprehensability.)
Use in Space
In very cold environments below the boiling point of air (~ liquid nitrogen) like in the outer solar system either heating and isolating is needed or hydrogen can be used as filling gas.
Wild scenario: Inflatable vehicles
Use of "gem-gum balloon products" as collapsible transport vehicles.
Think: inflatable cars, planes, boats, …
If human powered like a bicycle and not live connection powered from a street that can provide power continuously along its length.
Then the vehicle needs no heavy energy storage and might turn out too lightweight and need ballast mass material.
Otherwise the vehicle needs energy storage (as a meta-material) that unlike the motors can not be hugely collapsed in volume.
Energy storage is inherently not-so-compact and light.
Both ballast mass material and energy storage metamaterial
(the latter pre-assembled to various degree in size to chemomechanical or entropomechanical batteries rather than today's electrochemical ones)
could be taken/tapped from a global microcomponent redistribution system (GMRS) and water lines
embedded in future upgraded street infrastructure) respectively.
Ballast mass could be as simple as just water or someting fancy like
safely packaged high density heavy lead compounds.
As a wild scenario:
The vehicle can deflate in a suitcase size.
The energy storage "battery" metamaterial being dumped into the GMRS takes the place of a garage for the vehicle.
And even that is that's only needed when going driving of a gemstone metamaterial technology road.
Related
- Origami
- use in upgraded street infrastructure and advanced modular housing
- use for diverse robotic applications including multi limbed sensory equipped shells
- Motor-muscle (mocle)